John Paul II: A Man, a Pope, a Legacy
In October 1978 when Pope John Paul I died, the idea that his successor would not be Italian seemed inconceivable to most Vatican outsiders. When the announcement came that the Archbishop of Krakow would be the next Pope, the news was greeted with much uncertainty. It did not take John Paul II long to end all that uncertainty. His was a Papacy marked by bold assertions and symbols of the certainties of his beliefs. pope john paul ii• the vatican and the end of communism• john paul ii and solidarity